DeCA to drop requirement for Social Security Numbers on checks

            FORT LEE, Va. (Defense Commissary Agency) - The Defense Commissary Agency (DeCA) no longer is requiring customers to put their Social Security Numbers (SSNs) on checks when paying for their groceries. 

            It's another example of how the commissary is listening to customers and giving them what they want.

            "Our customers are telling us they are increasingly concerned about disclosing personal information on their checks that may result in 'identity-theft,' violations of personal privacy, fraud or personal financial loss.  We are listening to our patrons and are taking the steps needed to reduce their exposure to these risks," said Air Force Col. Ed Jones, DeCA's comptroller.

            DeCA's strategic plan directs employees to listen to customers and make it easier for them to use their commissary benefit. 

            Commissary managers have opened stores earlier, closed them later and offered new services in response to customer suggestions.  But sometimes customer concerns go beyond store hours and product selection.         

            As national anxiety over identify-theft mounted and various civilian retailers stopped asking for SSNs, military shoppers began asking DeCA to change too.  As a result, customers will have extra security and the convenience of not having to write their SSN on a check when shopping at the commissary.

            DeCA is taking these positive steps even though there was little or no risk in DeCA's current requirement for SSNs on checks. 

            "There is a very low probability of customers having their identities stolen or their Social Security Numbers misappropriated at a DeCA commissary," said Fred Stein, DeCA's security officer.  "Our customers' checks are safeguarded like cash and remain under positive control of appropriate commissary personnel until they are deposited in the bank."

            But just to be sure, DeCA worked hard to change its systems.  It means that the agency is modifying its cash register system to stop printing SSNs on the back of checks.  Most importantly it means that DeCA has succeeded in developing a closed system to safely retain the SSN to comply with U.S. Treasury guidelines for collecting bad check information.  The cashier will enter this information when the customer's identification is checked at the register.

            "The results of this re-engineered business process will ensure transaction confidentiality and appropriate audit trails are maintained with the assurance that individual identity is protected," said John Goodman, DeCA's program manager for the cash register system.